Thursday, October 23, 2014

Less is more

I have some explaining to do... Recently I made some changes which go against one of the core ideas behind my mod, but before you burn be on a stake and throw the mod into the lions pit, let me explain why.

"This mod started out as a 'Buildings Mod', with the objective to add more nice and useful buildings to the game"
That was the plan, yes, but as I added more and more stuff I started to run thin on things building have and do, their purpose became somewhat blurred. The problem is that with so many buildings, many of them were kinda empty, although they looked nice and all. And so because of this, I have removed some of them even though it kills me since I worked so hard on their textures.

The buildings that got removed are the University/Academy, Capitol, Council's Hut and High Temple (Lookouts and Asian Towers might also go). Their techs were moved to the Town Center, Church and Market, each accordingly to what they do. You might think it was a bad decision but just play and you'll see, everything is more accessible, more streamlined. I believe this decision was for the best and I wanted to do it for a long time.
Everything started back when I combined the House with the Livestock Pen for Europeans, I just want buildings to have multiple purposes if possible. Because in an intense, competitive game you sometimes don't have time to build everything and use everything the game has to offer, but if they are more accessible then things change.

And I am not the only one who believes this, the developers also did. When AoE3 came out it had all kind of buildings, each with a fixed purpose, but then the expansions reduced them. Warchiefs had combined Mills with Livestock Pens, and Barracks with Outposts. Asian Dynasties went even further and combined Artillery Foundries with Outposts, Mills with Plantations, Houses with Livestock Pens, Saloons with Churches, and even Barracks with Stables.
So you see, this is better for everyone and I hope that you agree. If not, please make sure to tell me what you think in the comments.

Now about update 5.5... Yes, it's coming and it will finally bring the new patcher into an installer so people won't have problems updating the mod anymore.
That's all folks, thank you and have fun!

30 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. hello, thank you for the information. i think the US still has some problems, like the command center wagon in US civ cannot turn into the building and the US Civ is using fame just like any other european civ right? but i think some of the tech is still using export. IDK if these are already been fixed because somehow the patcher didn't work on me although i put it in the game directory and with admin privilege. Thank you, keep up the good work anyway!

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    1. The US civ has been abandoned for the exact reasons you mentioned., they can't be fixed, modding limitations.

      The patcher should work, follow instructions and try again. If you installed version 5.4 then of course the patcher doesn't work, it's outdated and you must download the new one, I repeated this many times before and you can find a link to the new patcher on the right side of the blog in the "Fresh Start" window.

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    2. then remove the US consulate of the available buildings...

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    3. Nope, because the US still generates export, it just doesn't show it. And they need the Consulate cuz they don't have many units.

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    4. wow it actually does patching the mod. thank you.

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    5. Of course it did, I'm not wasting by breath here all day long for nothing, it's just hard to make people understand.

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  3. Hi!

    I have been using your mod for a month now and I must say, amazing work! I can not imagine the ammount of work that must have been placed into it, in order for the mod to have all these fantastic features!

    I have a couple of questions that I would like to be clarified, if possible. The first one is sometimes when I upgrade my colony's walls to fortified, they look like they're inside out, as in the supposed "face" of the wall that was meant to be facing the exterior of the city's limits, is facing towards the city and vice-versa. Is there any fix for this? The second question is if there is any release date for the next major update as I must say I am quite excited and looking forward to it :-D.

    Kind regards,

    Miguel

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    1. Just follow this pattern and they will always face the right way:

      >>>>>>>>>>
      ^.................v
      ^.....your......v
      ^.....base.....v
      ^.................v
      <<<<<<<<<<

      That's how you must place them in order to get the right facing. I hope it helps.

      The next installer release is coming soon but it will not mean much since the mod is continuously updated via the patcher.

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    2. As always: Thank you sooo much for all the work you do every time!!

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  4. Is there a way to keep playing 5.4 without updating to 5.5? 5.4 has been the best experience for us...

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    1. Wait what? That's new, why would you want that?
      Anyway, if that's what you really want then just install 5.4 and never run the patcher to update, the game can still be started via it's normal Asian Dynasties exe and the mod will work.

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  5. Does this mean you're going to un-change the golden pavillion finally?

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  6. Will we get more music in 5.5?

    It's part of the gaming experience!

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  7. Will 5.5 be released before Christmas? My girlfriend and I always enjoy this game when the kids are sleeping... She tells me that your mod makes her fell good inside! She always make a horse artillery bundle (around 20) and she loves it when she shoots the dancing natives! Satisfaction! Thanks dude!

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    1. Oh my. My mod makes her feel good inside you say... :)

      I delayed 5.5 a lot, part of the reason is that I wanted to fix as many bugs as possible before releasing it, the other part is laziness... I changed my pc and I think I screwed up the program which makes installers, so I'll either have to sort the old program out or use another one.

      But yes, 5.5 will come in a few days actually, probably on my birthday.
      Thanks for playing and for letting me know how much you like it.

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  8. Holy shit people still play this??? :DDDDDD

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    1. Apparently they do, Probably because I release updates like every week or so.

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  9. @ Zachary: I see that you never played this mod or you would still be playing it like us!
    Plus it's girlfriend friendly game (in my case anyway)!

    Thanks Mandos. We hope to play 5.5 during the Christmas vacation. Little herbal tea and honey as my girlfriend and I destroy all of the dancing civilisations!

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  10. Will you bring the fort walls? back feels weird to not have them.

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    1. People had problems with how to place fort walls so they look good so I removed them. Some people also abused the high hitpoints fort walls had and spammed them everywhere creating nasty situations for their opponents.
      I don't want to transform this game into a walling war, walls have their place for strategic purposes, not for trolling.

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    2. but they look so cool! perhaps as an option?

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    4. What happened to the dutch Lancer unit? Was it removed on purpose?
      Btw really enjoying your mod, Keep Up!

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  11. Hi,
    I'm new here, so I don't know if this subject has already been covered. I was just wondering (and maybe I should have spoken out before the latest patch was released) - seeing that you seem to have gone to great pains to create/modify all those buildings, why not retain the option of building them for those who like its eye-candy value? I mean - that way, those who don't want to won't have to. Are there technical difficulties in implementing that? Probably a little late for suggestions, but I'd like to hear from you if it's all the same, thanks.

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    1. I know it would be a suitable option but yes, it is difficult to implement such a thing. I already have problems with people not knowing how to install the mod and make it work, I don't want to make it harder for them.

      I gave my contacts everywhere, many people come to me personally for help. I am trying to reduce the chances of someone having problems getting the mod to work. I want to make the mod as foolproof as possible because I will not always be here to help.

      Plus, you can always mod the game yourself, it's very simple and most of the codes are easily understandable. It's not like I removed all those buildings, they are still there but are disabled.
      This is of course a more extreme solution but... You have to understand how I'm trying to balance the mod between hardcore players and casuals, both in installation and gameplay.

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    2. so, how would I reactivate the fort walls?

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